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When I decided to visit the new photography exhibition, “A thousand words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans,” last week I was concerned about how I would react. The exhibit occupies a conference room at the Roanoke Rapids Public Library.
For me Vietnam is a personal thing, so when viewing a photograph display I did not know how it would impact me. What I found was an exhibit that showed life for our servicemen during the Vietnam War.
Unlike many exhibits that show more of the blood and butchery of war, these photos mainly dealt with life outside of combat. This is an exhibit that is ideal for everyone over the age of 13. For those who have served in Nam the exhibition will probably bring back memories. For those of you who have never been there or have only heard about it will help you see what life is like in a war zone.
The first picture at the start of the display set the tone for the entire display. It is of a soldier covered in mud as he was just getting out of a muddy creek bed. As I walked through the display it brought back memories of my life in the mid-sixties.
Each picture seemed to bring back one memory or another of my time over there. I quickly realized that daily life in Nam had many similarities no matter where you were in the country. When I saw the photo of a chopper bringing in hot meals it reminded me of a story my brother told me about his time in Nam.
He was out in a foxhole on Christmas Eve and looking forward to Christmas for only one reason; he knew that after weeks of eating cold c-rations he would get a hot meal delivered to him. Another picture brought back a story he told me about how after weeks in the “boonies” (jungles) wearing the same clothes including underwear for weeks they would burn all their clothing whenever they got back to base and could get new clothes.
“A thousand words,” has gone from an idea for a class project to a national display that we are honored to have in this area. The curator and creator of the project, Martin Tucker, a Vietnam veteran, originally sought out the North Carolina veterans in hopes of getting negatives and information his students could work with in the dark room.
The response to the flyers he distributed was greater than he expected. Before handing over their personal remembrances of the war he had to assure some vets that his reason for wanting the information was honorable. Tucker got more than he thought he would when vets and families of vets brought him photos and told him stories about there experiences. Tucker said that at times after listening to the reliving of their experiences it left him drained.
Over 2,600 prints and slides were loaned by North Carolina vets. Four hundred images were scanned into computers and students from middle schools through college worked in restoring color and repairing any damage. In the end they selected 60 photos and digitally enlarged them to tell the story of life for our servicemen while in Vietnam.
The exhibition has been on a nation-wide tour and the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh has booked the exhibit for the entire year of 2008. It has been on television, garnering two Emmy nominations for local television programming, in newspapers, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Stories have been included in several magazines including the October 2005 issue of Our State – North Carolina.
The display also includes the MIA/POW “Missing Man” table display. The library plans to host a program next in early June presented by William Robinson, Roanoke Rapids native who is a former Vietnam War POW. Captured during his first months in Vietnam while on an Air Force mission to rescue downed crews, he spent the rest of his time in the war as a POW with time at the infamous Hanoi Hilton.
This exhibit is a must see. It may be about life for servicemen in Vietnam but you can easily make comparison as to what life must be like for our military people in Iraq. In Nam they had jungle, in Iraq they have sand. In either case life as a serviceman in a combat area is not easy.
Check our events calendar on page 2 of this week’s paper for the dates and times of the exhibit. Call Roanoke Rapids Public Library at 533-2890 for additional information.
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